Saturday, June 22, 2024

Flesh and Blood: The Hammer Heritage of Horror (1994)

"We who created that world add a touch of immortality to them. And you who share that world over the years can revisit it as you recall a favorite fairy tale, secure that, in the end, good will always triumph over evil!" "That is, until the next sequel!" -Peter Cushing, OBE & Sir Christopher Lee.
This delightful documentary discusses how Hammer Films rose to become one of the U.K.'s finest studios throughout the 1950s-70s. Narrated by Hammer's 2 most famous associates, Sir Christpher Lee & Peter Cushing, Flesh and Blood nicely illustrates how this legendary duo were just two of the many talented individuals who assured Hammer's place in the history books. From the company's begninings to its great heights putting out its historic Frankenstein, Dracula, and Mummy films, this documentary has is very informative. This is also, significantly, the last project Lee and Cushing worked on together, as Cushing died mere months after its completion. But both are clearly enjoying reminiscing about this time in their lives. Lee's voice was always commanding and Cushing, despite his weakening voice, is also clearly having fun. I especially liked when he referred to his swan song performance as Victor in Frankenstein and the Monster From Hell (1974) as 'the Baron's last hurrah, so far!"

Double Feature Time: Gremlins/Silent Night Deadly Night

Here's another article idea I had for the much-missed Agony Booth! As this is the holiday season, I thought it would be appropriate to ...